It is not only happening in mainstream denominations that departed from the Scriptures decades ago, but also in evangelical churches and among highly influential Christian leaders who write best-selling books and lead large congregations. My experience is becoming increasingly common as so-called “Progressive Christianity” takes root in congregations everywhere. Had I not been equipped to respond to these attacks on my faith, the results could have been devastating, and not only for my life now, but for eternity. He shared several other objections to historic Christianity as well. the conquest of Canaan), “blood-thirsty vengeance” (the doctrine of Hell), “Divine child abuse” (Jesus’ death as payment for our sins), and “the recently-invented absurdity of penal substitution” (payment of a debt by one person on behalf of another in order to put the debtor in right standing). And he attacked the God of the Bible for His “racism and genocide” (i.e. He mocked my belief that God created Adam and Eve in His image and that every human being has value because of his or her imago Dei. He brought up suffering as evidence that God, as I understood Him, did not exist. He pointed to apparent contradictions in the Bible as proof that it wasn’t trustworthy. Over the next two years, he and I had several informal debates in the privacy of our music offices.

Of course, it didn’t take long for him to identify me as one of those “crazy, dangerous fundamentalists who believes all this. Just not in the way I had thought.Īfter taking the job, I came to realize that this minister did not believe that Jesus rose from the dead, he did not believe the Bible was historically reliable, and he did not believe miracles were possible. I knew I would learn a lot from him.Īnd learn a lot, I did. My boss was an ordained Methodist minister and a former university music professor.

Years ago I took a job working as the Music and Performing Arts Administrator at a large, reputable church near my home in Atlanta in hopes of learning as much as possible about choral music, music theory, and singing as worship.

Another gospel alisa